Google Ireland just had to pay $53.27 million in corporate tax, although the Dublin-based-subsidiary reported a 23 percent increase revenues last year of $25.19 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Apparently, this low payment was because Google Ireland´s taxable profits were just $380 million.
According to The Guardian, revenues at Google Ireland Limited rose 23 percent in 2015, to $25.19 billion, which is equivalent to a third of the hi-tech company´s global income. Of the Irish income, more than $7.80 billion could have come from transactions with advertisers in the U.K. The search group headcount at its Dublin office rose to 6,000, including almost 3,000 staff and 3,000 contractors.
"As Google grows, Ireland continues to benefit...In 2015 we opened our second data center, bringing total investment in capital assets in Ireland to over €750m," the outgoing head of its Irish operations Ronan Harris told. According to the International Business Times, Google Ireland explained that total salaries paid had increased by about $407 million in 2015, which indicate that the Dublin-based firm primary administrative expenses were made up of cash royalties paid to another Google subsidiary.
The delicate part of this operation is that the incomes eventually makes its way to a business called Google Holdings Ireland, which is the second company in Google´s "double Irish" structure. Apparently, this structure is said to be a tax strategy used by some multinationals to lower their corporate tax liability, as reported by The Guardian.
Google Ireland´s accounts were published after the search company rejected the European Union antitrust charges of unfairly promoting its shopping service and blocking competitors in online search advertising. The company´s rebuttal in this case comes six years after the European Commission opened an investigation prompted by complaints from competitors as Microsoft.
Far from being the only tech company that commits this kind of actions, Google Ireland is not alone, since it was known that Apple´s long-standing tax arrangements in Ireland relied on illegal state aid, as it was reported by the European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
